[Box] Fresh is a parody of youth TV and is pretty much the first short film I ever made. A few friends and I (including Paul Wade and my then-girlfriend-now-wife) got together in Canterbury and decided to shoot a few sketches that we’d been kicking around. This was the final result and I’m still pretty proud of it. It comes from that awkward time before I realised I needed to keep my own daft face behind the camera rather than in front of it but the blind freerunning skit is still a joke that I’m very pleased to have written.

The movie won us a Best Editor award and led to us going on to make loads of other things, so Box will always hold a special place in my heart.

In his youth, Edd The Duck was one of the biggest stars on the BBC. In this frank and mercifully short documentary, we attempt to find out what happened next as well as showcasing some never before seen interviews with other performers of that era.

This is a very scrappy little film that a few of us made back in 2009. I think I shot some of it, Paul Wade shot some and Steve shot a bit too. I flinch slightly at the quality of the audio and video when I look back at it now, but I think the concept is sound and I’m proud of the Paddington Bear gag.

To kick it off we have the sketch that started it all. Produced back in 2008 by me, my now wife and my good friend (and great film maker in his own right) Paul Wade, “The Day The Moon Got Too Close” is the answer to the much asked question “where did you come up with a guy with a Moon for a head.” Basically the brief of the competition we were doing was to create a film based on the aforementioned title and whilst many people went for After Effects powered shots of giant Moons in the sky, we went with something a little…different.

It looks really dated now (especially the quality of the video) but it remains one of the most enjoyable films I’ve ever made. From hanging out of a speeding Vauxhall Corsa with a camera to having papier mache dripping on my face (yes that’s me under the Moon head), it was zero budget film making at it’s most fun. I still have the chipped tooth I gained from the headbutt shot.

I was helping my fiancée sort out her Twitter account last night and I stumbled upon a little treasure trove hidden away on her laptop. Fi produced a lot of our earlier films and, ever the professional, she took a load of production photos along the way and stashed them away for safe keeping. Given that we’re a little light on comic book content right now as Steve is locked away in his studio, working on issue 2 of both Moon and Fallen Heroes, I thought it would be nice to dig some of these pics out and share them with you dear people.

Moon-fact 1: The original Moon-head was made out of an old lamp shade with a tonne of Papier-mâché slopped over it. Wise men that we are, Paul and I elected to do this the night before and consequently it didn’t dry in time and I had bits of gluey paper falling on my face all shoot.

"The Day The Moon Got Too Close"

Moon fact 2: This is from the closing shot of the film. The battery on our camera ran out with just one line of dialogue left to record and we ended up going out to a totally different wood a little later in order to get that 2 second shot at the end. There was supposed to be a ‘walking into the sunset’ shot but I couldn’t walk in a straight line on account of having a face full of glue.

"The Day The Moon Got Too Close"

On set with Al Crow, who played Shades Rodriguez in the short. The character was never named in the film itself, I just made up the name for the credits because I thought it sounded funny. Years later and the character has taken on a life of his own.

"The Day The Moon Got Too Close"

I love how ropey the original Moon head looks compared to the one that we use for publicity events nowadays. This version didn’t have any kind of head support inside it so it always flopped forwards. I like how it kinda makes Moon look permanently melancholy.

"The Day The Moon Got Too Close"

I can honestly say that I don’t recommend trying to direct a film while you are a) in said film and b) wearing a massive ball of paper and glue on your head. I still have the chipped tooth to prove it.

"Box Fresh"

This was taken in Margate while filming the ‘Mime murder’ gag in [Box] Fresh. It was mid spring and totally freezing so I donned a coat only to discover that without the stripy shirt, I just looked like I was on my way to a Kiss concert. I kept the hood up until we were safely out of the town centre.

"Box Fresh"

I can’t remember how I ended up playing the pretentious not-at-all-a-jibe-at-anyone-real arthouse director, Zach Hoovermiester in [Box] Fresh. I think we had somebody else lined up for the part but they pulled out last minute. Either way, the end result was that we dug a blonde wig out of our props box and I sat and rambled in front of the camera for about two hours in order to get 20 seconds of footage. Oddly enough, that shirt is actually the one that Steve used as the basis for Shades’ shirt in the Moon concept art. Also, I have bleached my own hair that colour in the past and I cannot recommend it highly enough if you want to avoid people taking you seriously.

Hope you enjoyed that little peek behind the curtain. Hopefully we should be bringing you some brand new artwork very soon, so keep your eyes on the Moon, Bunkerites.

In his youth, Edd The Duck was one of the biggest stars on the BBC. In this frank and mercifully short documentary, we attempt to find out what happened next. With the help of some never before seen interviews with other performers of that era, we set out to answer the question: Just how far does a duck have to migrate to escape his past?

Produced for the 2 Days Laughter Festival 2009. Winner of the audience Choice Award and recipient of several other nominations. This is one of my favourite shorts from the BTB vault. Sadly cut from the final version and lost to the ages is a scene where Edd re-enacts the famous “I’m a bright, shining star” moment from the closing scene of Boogie Nights. Given what we’re posting up next week, that’s probably for the best.

Every Friday we descend into the vaults here at Bunker HQ and dig out one of the many fine (and occasionally not so fine) films that we have produced over the years. Come join us for another instalment of cinematic silliness.

Last week we gave you our teen culture parody, [Box] Fresh. Well, as with any film that’s made in a day and semi improvised, there were a fair number of gags that didn’t go into the final film (some because I’m an actor of questionable talent and some because Paul doesn’t know how to make fake blood that doesn’t look like melted chocolate). Here they are in all their glory.

Every Friday we descend into the vaults here at Bunker HQ and dig out one of the many fine (and occasionally not so fine) films that we have produced over the years. Come join us for another instalment of cinematic silliness.

This week we have a film that brings back some fond memories for me as it’s the first proper short I ever did. It’s also the first film that I made for the 2 Days Laughter/Later festival, an event which has become a major fixture in my film making calender.

[Box] Fresh was a response to the endless stream of trendy, teen culture programming that was spilling onto our screens back in 08. It went on to be nominated for several awards and to win the Best Editor prize, as well as inspiring a wonderfully vitriolic letter and a minor local controversy after a few people misunderstood the blind freerunners joke. The following year we were billed as “Controversial film makers” which pleased me more than I care to admit.

Every Friday we descend into the vaults here at Bunker HQ and dig out one of the many fine (and occasionally not so fine) films that we have produced over the years. Come join us for another instalment of cinematic silliness.

Last week we brought you the trailer to our Vikings vs Zombies short, Ragnarok Dawn. This we we have part 1 of the finished film. It was produced a few years ago for the 2 Days Later film competition and, as per the rules, was written, shot and edited in just 48 hours. As you’d imagine, it’s pretty rough around the edges (the heavens saw fit to furnish us with the only day of glorious sunshine all autumn in order to shoot our dark horror story) and the script could probably do with a little bit a tweaking, but all things considered we’re still pretty proud of it. The amount of goodwill from the massive cast and crew, all of which gave up their time, talent and patience at extremely short notice and for no money whatsoever. It’s people like that who make this very stressful projects worth doing.

Every Friday we descend into the vaults here at Bunker HQ and dig out one of the many fine (and occasionally not so fine) films that we have produced over the years. Come join us for another instalment of cinematic silliness.

This week we have part 1 of a triple helping of Zombie chopping action. Produced for the 2008 Two Days Later festival, this was the first project that Steve and I worked on. The result was conceptually fabulous and logistically terrible.

The film itself is the age of tale of Viking meets Zombie and considering it was made for no money whatsoever, it’s not all that bad. The trailer you see here remains inexplicably popular on youtube (infuriatingly so given how quick it was to put together) and returning to the project tentatively remains close to the top of our ‘to do’ list.

Part 1 of the film itself will be up next week.but for now we invite you to simply enjoy the original in all its Norwegian murdering glory.

This is another silly short that Paul and I made a few years ago as a viral for a certain corn based snack (other nachos are available). It’s pretty basic but it is the only film we’ve ever made that can be said to include Crisp Ninjas. I’ll start posting up some of the horror films over the next few weeks as there seems to be a fair bit of interest in them at the moment.

Off to lovely Margate now to see The Devil’s Fork get its first UK screening. It is cold so I shall take my splendid hat.